Jailed Kurdish rebel leader says peace process still on track
ANKARA (Reuters) – Jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan said on Sunday that a peace process to end three decades of conflict was still continuing with all “seriousness”, but that Ankara needed to take concrete steps before parliament opens in…
Japan urges Britain to keep ‘major role’ in EU
LONDON (Reuters) – Japan has added its voice to international calls for Britain to maintain a leading role in the European Union, saying that membership is a key advantage for companies looking to access Europe’s single market.
Bahraini parliamentarian’s house attacked for second time
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Assailants attacked the home of a Bahraini member of parliament with petrol bombs on Sunday for the second time in a week, the state news agency BNA said, the latest in a series of assaults on public officials and security personn…
Pakistan says seeks to reset frayed Afghan ties
KABUL (Reuters) – Pakistan’s new foreign policy chief denied on Sunday backing Afghanistan’s breakup or planning to end the Afghan war with a power-sharing role for the Taliban during a fence-mending visit to Kabul aimed at lowering cross-border tensio…
Syria activists say family of 13 killed in Sunni village
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad killed at least 13 members of a family in the Sunni Muslim village of Baida on Sunday, in what activists said was the second massacre there.
Iran denies missing World Bank payments, blames sanctions
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran denied on Sunday it had failed to make payments on its loans to the World Bank for the last six months, blaming Western sanctions for preventing an intermediary from forwarding funds to the global lender, Iran’s IRNA state news a…
Hamas reeling from Egyptian crackdown on Gaza tunnels
GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are reeling from another devastating blockade but this time they are blaming Egypt, the neighboring Arab power they once hoped would end their isolation, rather than their old foe Israel.
Kidnapped Mali election workers freed in north: official
BAMAKO (Reuters) – Gunmen have freed four election workers and a deputy mayor a day after they were kidnapped in Mali’s remote northern town of Tessalit, a local official said on Sunday.
Poor quality and bad management: India ignored warnings in free meal program
GANDAMAN, India/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The village school in India where 23 children died by poisoning last week had been providing lunch under a government-sponsored scheme without checks or monitoring by local officials to see if the food was stored c…
Japan PM’s coalition gets majority in upper house: exit polls
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc won a convincing victory in an upper house election on Sunday, media exit polls showed, giving the hawkish leader a mandate for his recipe to revive the economy, while ending a politica…
